Analysis of Fate

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803 (Boston) – 1882 (Concord)



Deep in the man sits fast his fate
To mould his fortunes, mean or great:
Unknown to Cromwell as to me
Was Cromwell's measure or degree;
Unknown to him as to his horse,
If he than his groom be better or worse.
He works, plots, fights, in rude affairs,
With squires, lords, kings, his craft compares,
Till late he learned, through doubt and fear,
Broad England harbored not his peer:
Obeying time, the last to own
The Genius from its cloudy throne.
For the prevision is allied
Unto the thing so signified;
Or say, the foresight that awaits
Is the same Genius that creates.


Scheme AABBCDEEFFGGHHII
Poetic Form
Metre 10011111 11110111 01110111 11010101 01111111 1111111011 11110101 110111101 11111101 11010111 01010111 01011101 101101 1001110 1101101 10110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 578
Words 106
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 445
Words per stanza (avg) 104
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 24, 2023

32 sec read
101

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. more…

All Ralph Waldo Emerson poems | Ralph Waldo Emerson Books

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